A Missouri jury convicted a 75-year-old woman on Thursday for murdering her former husband nearly 40 years ago, the New York Daily News reported.
The case of Alice Uden was in the headlines for more than six months, involving not only her dead husband, but her current husband who is serving a life sentence for murdering his former wife and two children in 1980.
Uden claimed she shot and killed her former husband, Ronald Holtz, sometime in 1974 or 1975 because he was about to attack her 2-year-old daughter, the Daily News reported. The jury's decision was based on whether or not they believed the defendant, and after two days of deliberation, convicted Uden for second-degree murder. She faces 20 years to life in prison.
"We are pleased with the verdict," Laramie County District Attorney Scott Homar said according to the Daily News. "The jury made it clear that they believe she at least purposely and maliciously killed the victim in this matter."
Prosecutors were not allowed to mention Uden's husband's case, which was kept separate, during her trial.
A mother of five, Uden and her husband Gerald Uden raised their family in a farming town in Missouri after marrying sometime after 1975. The couple kept their past a secret to their children. One daughter, Erica Hayes, told People magazine in January she always suspected her mother was hiding something.
Alice Uden eventually told her daughter she killed Holtz because he was abusive, according to People.
Holtz' remains were found last summer in a mine shaft on a cattle ranch in Wyoming, the Daily News reported.
Prosecutors said Holtz was sleeping when Alice shot him in the head.
But Alice maintained she killed Holtz right before he attempted to hit her daughter because she was crying and he could not sleep. She shot him with a .22-caliber rifle, then dumped his 175-pound body in a mine shaft, the Daily News reported.
Homar said there was no way Alice could have retrieved the gun fast enough to stop Holtz.
"Her story is impossible," Homar said according to the Daily News.
